|
March 2006
 Filmmaker
Gary Rhine (1951-2006) named
his production company Kifaru, Swahili for "Rhino",
the nickname used for him by his many friends. At the time of
his death in a small-plane accident, Rhine was in pre-production
on a documentary about Vine Deloria, Jr. His works often drew
attention to social issues in Indian Country and he collaborated
with Native filmmakers in his own productions. The Peyote Road:
Ancient Religion in Contemporary Crisis (1993) helped focus
media attention on the sacramental nature of peyote, and helped
lead to the 1994 amendment to the American Indian Religious Freedom
Act, which decriminalized the ceremonial use of the plant. Wiping
the Tears of Seven Generations won the One Future Award at
the 1992 Munich International Film Festival. In 2002, he programmed
the series First People's TV for Link TV. Rhine founded
the Dreamcatchers organization to offer training opportunities
and funding to Native filmmakers. Rhine produced RezRobics
for Couch Potato Skins, a healthy lifestyle video directed
by Pam Belgarde, distributed free-of-charge to Native communities.
Rhine was an executive co-producer of Peter Bratt's Follow
Me Home, winner of the Audience Award for Best Feature Film
at the 1996 San Francisco International Film Festival.
From 1970-1983, Rhine lived in Summertown, Tennessee, on the
legendary commune The Farm. Rhine was the director of The Farm
Ambulance Service and director of the Plenty Emergency Medical
Training Program. He also worked as a medic during the Longest
Walk, a Native American civil rights march to Washington, DC in
1978. After leaving The Farm, Rhine lived for some time on the
Akwesasne Reservation in New York, where he trained emergency
medical technicians and midwives.
"Importantly, each film is marked by collaboration with Native
advisors and lets Native people present Native issues on their
own terms. Uniquely, the films address vital issues from an unabridged
American Indian standpoint and with that unmistakable Native heart."
—Walter Echo-Hawk, James Botsford, and Phil Cousineau. Indian
Country Today, 1/20/06.
Screened by NMAI
- Follow Me Home
(1996) co-executive producer
- Wiping the Tears of Seven Generations (1991)
co-director
Image credits: Gary
Rhine - courtesy of Irene Romero-Rhine
|
 |
 |
|
|
